Seiken No Han
by Delegara
Summary: What happens when a School Idol becomes a Magical Girl? Well, it sets a whole new meaning to what Love Live actually is.
1. Itsumo Matteimasu

"They left nothing. Absolutely nothing behind." Umi's brow twitched, changing the scene. Wasn't she...just at school? Where was this place? There were buildings in ruins, water leaking into the streets. The cars were either charred, beat up, or over turned. Was this the end of the world? With it's skies greyed out by clouds that refused to let the sun through?

"Honoka!" The scream was so familiar, but who was it? Umi turned, but saw no one. Just Honoka, laying on the ground. Her clothes were torn, muddy, her back to Umi. She wasn't moving, was she ok?

"Honoka?" Her voice was strained, like she hadn't used it in so long. Was she afraid? Of what? Where she was? That she didn't know what was going on, what was happening? Or was it because she didn't know what was happening to her friend?

 _Bang!_

Umi sat bolt upright in bed, tangling her feet in her sheets as she tried madly to throw them off her sweat drenched body. Just a nightmare. The same nightmare she'd been having for a while now. Where she finds herself somewhere she's never been, yet everything feels familiar. There's always someone who screams, always Honoka on the ground lifeless. But who? Who is it that she hears scream? What is happening in her dream? And why does she always wake up when she hears that gunshot? How long has she been dreaming these dreams? The gentle buzzing of her alarm pulled Umi from her thoughts. Right, she had to get ready for practice. Always first thing in the morning, they'd gather at Nozomi's shrine and start practising. That's who u's was, a group of idol girls in High School. Idol Girls. High School. Umi clenched her fist around her phone, still vibrating to alert her that it was time to wake up. Slowly she folded herself inwards. How she wished that was all they were. School Idols.  
-

Today, the sun was coming up a little earlier than it had been. Usually by the time Umi got herself ready and left the house, you could just see the first rays of light struggling over the horizon. Today the sun itself was peeking over. Did this mean summer was finally upon them? That meant that the days would start getting warmer, longer. They might have to consider starting practises earlier, or switch to the evenings. Umi liked the idea of sleeping in a little, but figured it wouldn't matter much if the trade-off was having to stay up later in the evening. Practising during the day would be more difficult. She remembered last year when they'd first started, how hard it was to stay motivated in the heat. How one longed to get a break so they could rush to sit in the little shade they had available to them. Due to how the roof was, the only wall available to them created shade for about an hour during the day. Which meant almost everyone wanted to be in it during the hotter days. Perhaps she would invest in some umbrella's to help create artificial shade?

"Good Morning Umi!" Honoka called, pulling Umi from her usual slew of thoughts. Honoka was usually first to arrive, bright and early as usual, beaming up a storm that rivalled the sun. Being a School Idol was one of Honoka's fondest moments, the thing she cherished most in life. If Honoka wasn't at practise first, the rest of u's generally worried that she'd fallen ill again, or perhaps had gotten kidnapped. Sometimes Umi wished the latter would happen, then she wouldn't have to worry about being a School Idol anymore. Umi sighed at herself. Of course that was a lie, she'd never really want her friend to be kidnapped. Then she would have more to worry about. Tokyo was such a large place, she knew there was no way she'd ever find Honoka.

"Good Morning Honoka!" Umi smiled at her, running over so they could climb the stairs to Nozomi's shrine together. Talking kept her mind from racing these days. "Is anyone else here yet?"

"Nozomi and Eli are already waiting up at the shrine. Nico might be here, but I'm not sure about everyone else. Kotori and Hanayo might sleep in again." Honoka laughed at herself. Umi knew what that meant; they'd stayed out the night before until Kotori had convinced them it was time to go home. However, that didn't mean that Honoka and Hanayo had actually returned home. At least Honoka was dedicated to practice and her usual routine. It seemed nothing would keep her from arriving at her usual time for practise.

"Honoka, please make sure you get the proper amount of rest every night. We can't have you getting sick and passing out again, especially not with Love Live happening so soon. Please." Umi was trying to take on a begging tone, but she knew she came off more annoyed than she intended. But she was annoyed. Sometimes she felt more like a mother than a friend to Honoka. Always feeling the need to watch over and protect her. Mainly from herself, since Honoka teemed with abrupt tendencies that would catch anyone by surprise. Unfortunately, Umi had many years of experience with these tendencies.

Honoka stopped. They were almost at the top. From here, Umi could see the shrine, but not if anyone was waiting in front of it. "It wasn't intentional." Honoka's voice was low as she studied her shoes. They were scuffed up, something that normally happened when Honoka did lots of running with no time to properly clean and buff them before school. There had been many times where the members of u's arrived at school with tarnished footwear. Umi hated every moment of those days. They were supposed to be setting an example as School Idol's but instead- "There was a Witch." Umi's eyes widened, stopping her train of thought. Umi spun around, grabbing the railing to her right for balance.

"A witch?" She could feel her heart stop in her chest, the icy feeling of dread release into her veins. Witches meant failed Magical Girls. Witches meant someone had made a contract to enter Love Live. So often these Magical Girls were School Idols, but once in a while, normal girls. Who was it? Who would they no longer see? Would it be someone they'd grown to admire, like A-Rise? "Do you...?" Umi trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence. Honoka shook her head hard. She was fighting back tears. Umi clenched her teeth, set her eyes towards the shrine. "We do what we can Honoka. We try to save each and every idol from that fate. And if we can't, then we save them from themselves. They're in a better place now." Umi gave Honoka a momentary glance, before twisting herself around in a full 180, and stomping up the last few steps. She couldn't stop herself from stomping. She was scared and angry. Scared that someone they knew wouldn't be with them anymore. Scared that it was a member of u's. Angry that this was the harsh truth of the School Idol world. That the only way out of this, was to win Love Live. If you made it into the finals, that was enough. They'd release you from the contract, and you never had to be a Magical Girl again. But to everyone who didn't, they continued or turned to Witches.

"I know." Honoka whispered. She'd never felt so useless in her entire life. So helpless. Who did she think she was? Calling herself a School Idol when she didn't even look up to herself? How could she fill the audience, their fans with happiness and hope when she felt hopeless? When she felt so sad.

"Honoka?" The soft voice of Hanayo floated up behind her. Honoka turned, a tear sliding down her cheek betraying her, to see Hanayo and Rin standing behind her. Rin looked concerned as she rubbed the stray tear away with her forearm. "Honoka, it's ok. As long as we have each other, we never have to worry. We'll save who ever we can." Honoka was shocked. This was the last thing she expected to hear from Hanayo. Rin, was a clear candidate for cheering up speeches, but not Hanayo.

"You're right!" Honoka smiled at her. "I'll always have everyone in u's! We're stronger together than by ourselves. Thanks Hanayo." Honoka turned and dashed up the shrine, suddenly full of energy again.

"What...happened?" Rin inquired, looking between Hanayo and the fading Honoka.

"There was a Witch last night. Kotori, Honoka and I were jogging by the river last night." Hanayo paused as she thought about it. They'd gone out for a jog, since Honoka and herself were starting to get a little pudgy. Kotori offered to come along, and suggested running by the river for a change of scenery. It was beautiful, Hanayo remembered. The way the moon glistened off the surface of the river, how quiet it was compared to in the morning. The feeling of the crisp air tingling on her skin. She wished it felt like that in the mornings too, it felt so good to run in the cool air. "As we were jogging, Kotori slipped and started sliding down the hill towards the river. We jumped after her and the three of us ended up in a Witches House." Hanayo turned to shrug apologetically at Rin. "The rest is history as I'm sure you know."

Rin furrowed her brows as she looked from Hanayo up to the shrine. "Is Kotori ok?"

"I think she twisted her ankle a little bit, but I'm sure she will be better in a couple days." Hanayo assured her.

"Good, I'm glad. It's probably better that we travel in groups instead of individually from now on too." Rin nodded at her own idea. If Witches were appearing randomly like this, travelling alone meant death as the worst possible outcome. "Come on, we'll be the last ones there at this rate."

This was the girls' fates. To walk a thin line between the reality that society created, and the reality that the world created. To understand the hidden world that society did not know or care to understand. To society, Magical Girls was something you'd only read in fairy tales, nothing that could possibly be lived out. So when a girl was found dead, or remained missing for decades, society made up stories about what happened to them, where they went, who killed them. Justice would be served as someone was convicted of murder, to keep the facade up and dismiss the second reality.

This was the reality that u's faced. If they couldn't release themselves from this curse, then they chose to become just another statistic. Just another girl who would never be found.


	2. Yokan no Hoshi

"Have we decided on a new song yet?" Maki inquired during their morning warm up. They'd learned their lesson last year when a few of their members pulled muscles, or sprained their ankles. It was Eli's idea to start introducing warm-ups, and together her and Umi had scoured the internet and local resources for good warm-ups.

"Mmm not exactly." Honoka said. "I've been thinking about it, but I'm not sure. Do we want to do another upbeat song like No Brand Girls? Or something different?" Honoka pushed herself harder to grab her feet on either side of her as she stretched out her legs. She remembered how tired she had gotten during No Brand Girls, but she also reflected on the fact that she had gotten herself sick. Part of her wanted to do another upbeat song, but part of her was afraid that she'd push herself too hard again.

"I wonder if that's a good idea?" Kotori tried her best to smile and laugh, but you could tell she was worried. "Maybe we should do something...slower?" Kotori offered. "What about a love song?"

"No. I refuse to write anything about love songs. We don't even have any experience with love!" Umi was shocked Kotori would even suggest something like that. However, she supposed it was only natural for a girl to want to sing a love song at some point, but was that even possible given their circumstances?

"What if we write about something we love, but make it vague enough to not seem like we're singing about our love for food or something like that?" Rin suggested. "We might not have experience with loving someone, but we do have things we love in our lives right?" Hanayo's face lit up as she zoned out into her own personal world filled with rice. Rin giggled at her and the thought of singing a love song about rice. Not exactly the most heart warming thing out there.

"Well, if we need some time away from Tokyo, why don't we spend some time at my villa up in the mountains?" Maki offered, rising to her feet to start jogging in place. "It might not give us idea's for a love story, but maybe it'll give us an idea for something else. What do you think?"

"I like the idea. Time away would be nice." Kotori smiled. What she really meant was a vacation would be nice, and she knew a few others were thinking the same thing. Umi had different idea's in mind, but 8 versus one would not yield the results Umi hoped for.

"Only if we have regular training at the same time." Umi commanded. Her voice was stern, telling the others that there was no getting around it.

"What if we have time set aside for training and thinking about songs, and the rest of the time is spent relaxing?" Eli offered. She was good at mediating, something Honoka envied. Even though she was school council president now, Eli did such a better job at it. Regularly, she found herself looking to Eli for advice. What should she do about clubs? About questions or concerns the student body came to her about? What about scheduling practices so they don't overlap with her duties? Eli made everything look so easy, but in truth, the job was rather difficult. "I'm sure everyone is looking forward to a little vacation, and it might help us think about songs a bit easier if we're able to relax and unwind." Eli's words pulled Honoka from her train of thought, which she'd be the first to admit, was on it's way to derailing rather quickly.

Umi let out an annoyed sigh, but agreed resentfully. In the end, they decided to hold their vacation during the long weekend approaching. After that would be too late, as they'd be busy preparing for summer vacation, as well as the qualifiers for Love Live. If they didn't have a song prepared before summer started, it meant not being able to enter the regional qualifiers.

Maki's villa was more than they'd expected. To be exact, it looked more like a mansion nestled snugly on top of a mountain. The road wound lazily up the hill to the flat surface they called a yard, and the villa encircled by a small surrounding of trees that would soon give way to a forest. The villa faced a cliff a few miles off, where you could clearly see the beach and shimmering ocean they were free to play in.

If the yard wasn't enough, the villa itself would settle your appetite. Upon entering, you were greeted with vaulted ceilings, beautifully polished wooden floors, and an elegant winding staircase that lead upstairs. To the left was the living room, with its own private second floor that overlooked the main level, a fireplace nestled into the wall that Honoka and Rin quickly ran to, and a private patio. Maki quickly dismissed any ideas of having a fire, due to it being too warm and not seeing the point. "Plus," she'd stated, "you would need to clean the chimney after to get rid of all the soot." No one liked that idea, mainly because one knew Honoka and Rin would weasel their way out of it.

"Ehh fine." Rin crossed her legs, grabbing her ankles as she leaned back in defeat. "But next time, we come when it's cold enough to light it, ok?"

"I'll see what I can do." Maki ventured, not wanting to give her too much hope. "Rin, what are you looking at?" Maki had noticed Rin staring at something full of delight and excitement, but wasn't able to follow her line of sight to see what it was.

"So pretty! Look at this butterfly!" Rin was inching upon a large butterfly with beautiful blue wings, finger out stretched so she may stroke it. Nozomi was upon her in an instant.

"No Rin, if you touch him, it'll rub off the powder on his wings that he needs to fly." Nozomi's hand was gentle as she refrained Rin. "Though, this is a good omen. Butterflies symbolise change. I think this means we made the right choice in coming here." Nozomi's smile was warm. She did love when little good luck charms like this showed up randomly through the day. She was a lucky being herself, with many memorable moments in her life to thank the god's for. This, she figured was just one more thing to add to that list. The butterfly slowly moved his wings, then beat hard and flew to land within Nozomi's hair for a fraction of a second before it was startled off by Honoka, Hanayo and Rin screaming in excitement. Why was Nozomi so lucky as to have such a pretty butterfly land on her?

After a short break and a moment to fill their bellies, Umi sent them all straight to practice, separating them into three groups who were to help Umi, Kotori or Maki in coming up with songs or costume designs. Honoka felt horrible for the two who got paired with Umi. While they were certain Maki would take the work seriously, everyone else was basically paired up for free time, Kotori included, who thought designing a costume would be easier with music in mind.

"Umi's going to take them into the forest, and then we will never find them." Kotori sounded fearful. "Do you think...they'll think of something, or will she keep them there until they do?"

"It might be better to consider a rescue party for Nozomi and Rin." Honoka admitted. "I don't think Lily White will survive otherwise." Honoka giggled nervously, then sat upright with such speed and force, Kotori screamed and fell over. She just realized they'd been split into the groups sub-units. Was this Umi's plan all along? Some sort of group bonding moment? Or perhaps this would help them think of something?

"We thought splitting up this way would help us think in a way only our sub-units do." Kotori answered Honoka's thought for her. "Each group has something unique about them, and we thought putting those unique ideas together would help us define u's as a whole."

"Oh!" Hanayo's eyes lit up. "In that case, what if we incorporate lillies into the outfit for Lily white and...hmm..." BiBi stumped her. BiBi was essentially the polar opposite to the two groups, so trying to create a costume with them in mind made things difficult.

"What about chokers and sleeveless costumes?" Kotori offered. "We can think of colours and designs a bit more in depth once we have a song in mind. But for now, this is a good idea."

Honoka stayed silent as she thought. What was Printemps then? What made their group unique in a way that could be added to the outfit? Spring time, sure, but the flowers covered that. Unless they made the outfits white for Lily White? But that seemed rather boring to her. She didn't think it would pop enough to help make their performance memorable. Slowly, a streak of blue pulled her from her thoughts. "Oh! Look! It's the butterfly from before!" Honoka fell forwards onto her hands and knee's, trying to remain as still as possible. She wanted more than anything to be graced by the touch of this lovely creature. She had no such luck, as it timidly fluttered over to Kotori, landing on her hands which were neatly folded in her lap.

"Ah, sorry Honoka." Kotori moved suddenly, making the butterfly leap into the air and scurry off. "Oh! Oh no wait please, my friend wants you to land on her!" Kotori called rushing to her feet in an attempt to follow it, but it was long gone. "What if the colour of the outfit was blue? Like the butterfly?" Kotori offered, trying to cheer up her friend. "What do you think about that?"

"I like it! That butterflies been good luck to us so far!" Hanayo chimed in. "And blue is a nice colour! Do you think you can match the colour of his blue?"

"Oh! Yes, Kotori, do you think you could do that?" Honoka snapped out of her momentary depression over the butterfly. She liked the idea of looking pretty like the butterfly, to have the same colour as him.

"I don't see why not. I might need your help though, to make sure the colour looks how we all remember it though. It was such a pretty colour wasn't it?" Kotori smiled at her friends, then staggered as the ground beneath her right foot disappeared. Kotori looked down just in time to feel herself get sucked below the ground, a scream ripping through her chest from deep within her lungs. She flung her arms out, desperately reaching for Honoka who had been closer to her. _'Please,'_ She thought, _'Please Honoka, save me. Please!'_ She saw them. Hanayo and Honoka's fear ridden faces rushing towards her, arms out stretched. Everything was going black around her. She prayed, hoped that one of them had grabbed her hand, saved her.

"How is the music writing going?" Eli asked, pulling up a chair beside the piano where Maki was stationed, hands clenched in her lap, shoulders tense, eyes fixed upon the keys. She remained that way, un-moving and silent. "I suppose that means not well huh?" Maki glanced at her quickly.

"Eehh?" Nico's aggravated annoyance came from the sofa. She claimed to be no good at songs, and wanted to sit this out as much as possible. Why hadn't she been paired up with Kotori? She was sure to be more helpful there. She had so many cute idea's for costumes that she was _sure_ everyone would just _adore_. Everyone had rolled eyes at her and tried to enforce that this was the best way to sort the groups. "Don't you have anything you've been working on?" Nico sat up on her elbows to glare in Maki's general direction.

"Well...there was one, but it's...slower, so I'm not sure how well it would work." Maki smiled sheepishly at Eli, who simply shrugged and motioned for her to play. Maki was right, the song was slow, but the notes were sharp and carefully planned out, flowing seamlessly into one another. But something like this, it seemed a little too simple for prelims, something hard to create choreography for.

Eli sat and contemplated it for a while, only breaking her silence to have Maki replay certain parts while she tried to imagine some form of choreography for it. She didn't care much about lyrics or costume at this point. What mattered in the end, was if it would be a piece that they could choreograph a dance to. If not, it would hurt their performance a lot, which might result in them not making it through to the actual competition. "Do you think you could speed it up a little bit?" Eli offered. "Not too much just...make it similar to the stuff you hear on t.v., or playing on the radio?"

"On the radio?" Maki questioned the idea a little bit. What did she mean by that? It wasn't like she had an entire orchestra at her disposal, just one lone piano that could only do so much in terms of melody and sound. "Perhaps like this?" Maki played again, only turning some of the notes into eighth notes to speed up a section or two. From there, she simplified a few versus, and brought it all back into one astonishing bravado.

"Yes! Exactly like that! I can work with that!" Maki was excited, she could already see some dances streaming through her mind, the different formations she could work with. Eli blinked, rising to her feet and moving towards the balcony. What was it that she saw out there? Just a momentary flash of blue? Eli slowly opened up the patio doors. The air was oddly still, almost too still. No breeze, not even one that only shook the trees. Out across the yard, she could make out the figures of Honoka, Kotori and Hanayo sitting. They looked like they were having fun, laughing and talking to each other. She just hoped that they were actually planning things out, otherwise they would have Umi to deal with. Just as a smile started across her face, she saw one of the figures shrink, the other two leaping after it just as a scream filled the air. Maki and Nico lept to their feet, rushing over.

"Kotori!" Eli screamed, realising who's voice it was. She went to step out onto the patio, to rush over and help, but below her there was...nothing? How could that be? Eli looked down, and all she saw was darkness with no end. She quickly jerked her head to loo behind her, looked directly into the widened, scared eyes of Nico and Maki as she felt herself fall faster. "Maki! Nico!" Her voice too, now filled the air in a shrill scream as she wrapped a hand around her friends's wrists, yanking them into the abyss she was being pulled into.

 _Whoo Whoo_ Nozomi turned, brows furrowing. Owls out here? She supposed it wasn't exactly odd, but they were still rather close to the city, for wild life to want to venture anywhere near them. "How very interesting." Nozomi commented.

"Oh! Is that an owl?" Rin was very excited as she ran over to Nozomi. "Hey, Nozomi? What do owls represent?" Umi crept over, obviously interested, though her face said otherwise. They'd just been going over steps from a previous routine to keep them up to speed, while also trying to think of another song. So far, Umi's methods were not working.

Nozomi looked out over the cliff. Umi had wanted to hike up into the forest, while following the cliff. Eventually, it brought them to a clearing, and Umi had suggested camping out tonight to see if the night would give them any idea's. "Some religions and indigenous tribes believe owls to be a bad omen." Nozomi started. "Some believe they symbolise wisdom however."

"How can an animal represent two things that aren't even related to each other?" Umi inquired, proving that she was indeed interested in the topic.

Nozomi turned and smiled at Umi. "Sometimes the worst things in life, are those who know too much. Sometimes bad things happen to good people who just happen to know too much." The way her smile shifted, it was as if she knew something she shouldn't. The way she didn't scream like Rin and Umi did, their bodies frantically moving towards Nozomi as she slipped through the earth, perhaps solidified that she knew too much. Knew more than she should have. Nozomi closed her eyes, pressed them shut as tight as she could to fight back the tears trying to slip down her cheek. She felt a hand on her shoulder, but refused to open them. She knew what she would see when she opened them, and she was prepared to face it head on.


	3. Watashi wa Hitsuyou desu ka?

_The darkness is cold. Why is it cold? Why does my face feel wet?_

"Kotori!"

 _Who?_

"Kotori!"

 _Who are you? Why are you calling my name? Where am I?_

Kotori slid open her eyes, the world quickly focusing before her. It was dark, save for the patches of light she could see in the distance. Her eyes slowly swept to her left, away from the light into the darkness. She could see an arm out of the corner of her eye, a white glove covering the clenched hand at the end of it. Kotori shifted her head, leaning back so she was able to look up at the person the arm belonged to. Honoka? Kotori's brows twitched in confusion. Honoka's face was contorted, chin pressed desperately to her chest while her body shook uncontrollably. She was holding back sobs. But why? Kotori's head swam. Questions were beginning to pop up faster now. What was wrong? Why was Honoka crying? Where were they? Why was it dark. The choked sob to her right made her flick her head over to see what the sound was, who was making it. Hanayo's eyes were red with tears, hands covering her mouth as she tried to calm herself.

"What's wrong?" Kotori asked. She was slowly beginning to connect the dots, now that she realised both girls were in their Magical Girl outfits. Hanayo's was a full dress, brown with a white top and apron to match, and a long brown cloak that hung over it. Kotori always thought she looked like a mage, so she wasn't entirely sure why Hanayo's weapon was a sword, but she fought effectively with it. However, she was sure the group could do without the apologies and crying Hanayo spewed every time she attacked a Witch, not to mention she proved clumsy in her outfit. Still, she never missed a hit, or got herself into a sticky situation. Rather, Hanayo was a fearsome opponent when provoked.

"We th-th-thought you were d-d-dead." Hanayo hiccuped, forcing the words out as she felt another wave of tears approach. Kotori sat up and looked over at Honoka, also in her Magical Girl outfit, a simple chestnut brown top with a tailcoat, poofy oak brown bloomers, and little chestnut adornments. The chestnuts were what she had admired most about Honoka, Rin and Nico's outfits. Kotori now understood they were in a Witch's lair. Had they fought to keep Kotori safe until she had come to? Kotori looked down at herself, still in her outfit from earlier. It meant she hadn't transformed, wasn't currently tainting her soul gem.

There are a few ways to become a Witch, one of them being tainting your soul gem. To do that, you either succumb to darkness on your own, or become infected with it through fighting Witches. The longer you remain in their lair, the darker your gem becomes, but only while you're transformed. And the only way to clean your soul gem is to perform Live's, where the joy and excitement of the audience purifies your gem. Failure to do this, will result in you becoming a Witch.

"I'm fine, don't worry." Kotori smile, getting up and dusting herself off. Finally she decided to survey the area. "How did we get here?" Kotori asked, taking in the scenery. To her, it looked as if they were in the base of a very large tree, or a gathering of trees. The light she'd seen earlier was peeking through a canopy concealing the door she assumed was the only way in or out of the area. "I remember feeling as though I was falling but..."

Honoka sniffled loudly, wiped furiously at her eyes and promptly jumped to her feet. "It was the blue butterfly." She said sternly, the only way to keep her tears at bay. "We saw it touch you, then the ground beneath your feet warped funny, and you started to fall through it. We chased after you and ended up here." Honoka explained. "If you touch a blue butterfly in this realm, it transports you to the location of another blue butterfly. Hanayo got caught by one when we first arrived. It was trying to separate her, I think." Honoka looked at Hanayo, who gave a sheepish grin in response.

"Lucky for me Honoka uses a bow. She was able to nab them off at a distance. Every time I tried swinging at them, they'd move out of my range." Hanayo also rose to her feet, looking in the direction of the entrance. "I've never encountered a Witch like this before. Most of the time the dimensions are fixed, it's just the rooms that are strange. But here, it's the opposite." Hanayo felt that this was what made Printemps and Lily White so fearsome; the fact that at least one of their members was a distance fighter. However, Printemps also had Kotori, who's weapon and magical abilities leaned more towards the defensive side. It was almost like they had all the different types of ranges in battle covered, where someone always had someone else's back, and no one felt singled out or overwhelmed. Though, Hanayo supposed she would rather have more magical properties, or a long range weapon than be close combat. She was always afraid something would lob her head off, or stab her through the heart when she fought, and yet, here she was still breathing.

"So we not only have to find the Witch," Kotori started, holding up her soul gem. "But we also have to avoid the butterflies." Kotori sighed, activating her Magical Girl powers. Her outfit matched her, a rather cute, poofy baby blue outfit with a glass cage for a skirt; Kotori's weapon. When the glass cage was undone for battle, it turns into a floating mirror. Damage taken to it could be rebound, but as Kotori learned during one of her first battles, the mirrors can and will break if too much damage is received. Still though, Kotori enjoyed her weapon. It worked as a defensive weapon as well as an offensive weapon, which meant she spent a lot of time taking hits for Hanayo, or covering her back. The three of them worked incredibly well as a team, which she was sure was one of the reasons the girls had grown so close. Kotori looked between her two group members, holding out a hand to each of them. This was a habit for them, to hold each other's hand before they dived into battle. If one of them fell, they at least wanted to know they got to hold their hand before they died. "Then I guess we'll just have to show this Witch what Printemps is all about, right?"

((Sorry this chapter is so short! I've been meaning to post it for a while but I've been so busy with school/ work I'd forgotten . I may edit and expand it later, but for now, enjoy this!))


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